New chancellor named for UNC Asheville

CHAPEL HILL — A new chancellor was announced for UNC Asheville on Friday – Mary K. Grant, currently the president of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Grant was elected Friday by the UNC Board of Governors and announced by UNC President Tom Ross. She will start the job Jan. 5 at an annual salary of $255,000, succeeding Anne Ponder, who is retiring this summer after nine years.

Former Warren Wilson College President Doug Orr will serve as interim chancellor until Grant starts.

Ross called Grant a proven leader with 25 years of academic and leadership experience. She has made community involvement a key strategy at the Massachusetts public liberal arts college, which she has led since 2002.

Before that, she was chief academic officer and deputy CEO of UMassOnline, a provider of online education for public universities in Massachusetts. She also served a variety of roles at University of Massachusetts Boston.

“The need has never been stronger for the work that we do, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and being part of it,” said Grant, who was the first in her family to earn a four-year degree. “I bring to this work a commitment and a deep passion for how public higher education can change lives and how the liberal arts transform those lives in the process.”

Grant has a doctorate from Brandeis University, a master’s in public affairs from University of Massachusetts Boston and an undergraduate degree in sociology from North Adams State College (now Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts).